


Stanley Pines and the Quest for the Unicorn

by Amydiddle



Series: One and a Half Stans [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - One and a Half Stans, Episode: s02e15 The Last Mabelcorn, Gen, Stan is small, This is for you my precious Mabel, and Mabel doesnt take to unicorns being mean well, de-aged Stan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 12:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8533630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amydiddle/pseuds/Amydiddle
Summary: Stan had been de-aged for a few days and the threat of Bill is now coming to light. Of course this means Ford is going to send his great niece off on a quest to find the magical hair of a unicorn and there is no way that Mabel is going to leave her smallest grunkle home alone with nerds.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [urfam_ily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/urfam_ily/gifts).



> This is unedited

Stanley Pines rubbed his eyes slowly as he pulled himself from slumber. It had been a rough couple of days since he had woken up in this strange house. His young mind was still wrapping around that he was somehow in the future with his great niece and nephew and older grumpier twin brother. The first night he had been directed to a room that was so dark it almost screamed sadness at him. The boy had found his way to sleep on the couch the night after that.

Since then he had been sleeping in the same room as Dipper and Mabel; more often than not the same bed as one of them. He found Mabel to be the better sleep companion as she cuddled just like Ford had done once upon a time and there was usually a pig in the bed with her so everyone got something to cuddle.

Waddles was nowhere to be seen at the moment though and neither was either of the twins. With a small frown on his face he carefully slid to the floor and grabbed the sweater he had claimed as his from Mabel’s case. The pink garment being pulled over his head made his messy curls stick up in almost impossible angles.

The boy smiled at the star on his chest and pulled the yellow skirt she had given him before hurrying with sock covered feet to the stairs. The child too them two at a time and luckily stopped himself before he was impaled with an arrow coming from the kitchen.

“Oh my gosh! Stan are you okay?”

The child stared at the arrow that was stuck in the wall before turning to look at Mabel; his eyes still wide at the thought of his near death experience. As much as he was told not to go in the woods without anyone that lived in the house he was starting to think it was more dangerous in the Shack then outside of it.

“I’m…alive,” Stan chocked out when he realized he was just staring at the girl blankly. He put a bright gap toothed smile on his face and grinned up at her, “That’s something though!”

The boy eyed the cross bow in her hands and tilted his head to the side curiously at it, “Why you got that?”

Mabel looked down at the weapon in her hands before giving him a braces filled grin.

“I am going out to save the Shack!” She posed dramatically before squealing with happiness, “I am so excited I called all my friends over and we are going to go on a great quest and save the day and Grunkle Ford is gonna be so happy.”

“A quest!” The boy’s lit up, “Can I come!?! I want to join a quest to help Ford! Can I? Can I please? Please Mabel, please?”

He grabbed onto the end of her sweater and started to jump up and down as he dragged out the sound of the e in the last please. Mabel dramatically put on a thinking face and hummer to herself as she listened to the boy’s words before a bright smile went over her face.

“Can’t see why I can’t take my favorite mini-Grunkle along to find a unicorn.”

Mabel could pin point the moment the child’s eyes lit up like it was Chrismukkah has come early and it was right after she said unicorn. It was like seeing her reaction but with extra sugar and more bounce as he boy started to jump up and down excitedly.

 “You are going out and finding a real live unicorn!?!”

She laughed and set a hand on his shoulder to get him to stop bouncing; a serious look passed over her face as she stared into his brown eyes.

“Stanley,” she said to catch his full attention, “Do you know what you are getting into? This quest will be long and dangerous but I will do everything in my power to get you to meet a real life unicorn I just need one thing of you.”

Stan stared back at her, big eyes somehow getting bigger.

“What?”

She stared at him for a long time in silent, slowly raising her hands from the sweater sleeve to squish his freckled cheeks.

“I need you to have fun,” she whispered and a smile spread on her face to match the child’s.

“Yes Ma’am!” The boy chirped happily and pulled away from her grip.

His sock covered feet slide around on the hardwood as he went to put on the rain boots he was borrowing from Dipper as shoes. They were the only thing in the house that had some chance of staying on his feet until they eventually conceded and went clothing shopping for the de-aged child.

Mabel watched him pull on the bright yellow boots clumsily, a wide grin spreading on her face when a knock on the door caught her attention. She hurried over and pulled the arrow out of the wall before opening the door with a huge grin on her face.

“Girls!”

“Mabel!” Candy and Grenda said back and pulled their friend into a hug.

“Sup, Mabel,” Wendy chuckled and messed with her hair. “So what is this big ‘magical quest’ you pulled us all on?”

Mabel laughed and pulled away from the hug to smile up at the teenager.

“We are off to find a unicorn to help Grunkle Ford protect the shack,” she said casually, leaning on the unarmed crossbow, “You know. Important things that only us girls of pure heart can do…and Stan.”

“Stan?” Wendy’s face morphed from one of amusement to confusion.

“Stan!” The sound of a small excited voice from behind Mabel brought their attention down to the sweater clad boy in question. He had his arms thrown up but it didn’t stop the sleeves from still covering his fingers and smiled up at them all with a wide grin.

“Oh Mabel,” Candy smiled and looked at the boy, “He is so cute I could just eat him.”

Stanley giggled and hugged himself, “No eating. The goat already tried that and it didn’t work out so good.”

Mabel laughed and put her arm around the child’s shoulders before Grenda could pull him into a bone crushing hug like the first time she saw the de-aged Grunkle.

“Come on girls…and Stan,” Mabel said, “Questions later right now we have a unicorn to find!”

The girl switched her hold on the child to holding his hand and pulled him out of the Shack towards the woods. Stanley giggling behind her and moving his legs as fast as possible to keep up with her fast pace. Grenda whooped and hurried to follow her friend followed by Candy. Wendy stood on the porch for a moment before shrugging and following after the girls.

“Hey, wait up!”

* * *

Stanley reached his hand up and pulled on a vine with flowers on it as they passed by it. It was hard to tell how long they had been walking but all he did know that the earlier excitement of this trip was starting to die out. He placed his stolen flowers in Mabel’s hair; taking the advantage of being on her shoulders to reach it. His future great niece didn’t seem to mind the flora as she talked to her friends.

Wendy had gotten the full explanation and taken it in stride. The teen finding the small boy to be quiet a flip from her usually grumpy and sarcastic boss. Compared to the old man she knew the kid was just as sarcastic but seemed a lot lighter and smiled easily. There hadn’t been any lifelong secrete that had weighed the kid down.

“It's nice to finally be out on a mission, just us gals!” Mabel laughed and patted Stan’s legs, “And Stanley.”

“Eh,” the child shrugged and continued to weave a flower into her hair, “I am cool with being part of the gal pack. Never had a pack of friends before.”

Mabel looked up at him sadly but was cut off before she could speak a word to the child.

“Forget the sad talk!” Grenda said, a smile on her face, “I'm here to meet, touch, and/or become a unicorn!”

“I hear if you lick a unicorn's neck, it tastes like your favorite flavor in the world!” Candy chimed in with an excited look on her face.

“Candy, I will make sure you lick that unicorn's neck, because I care about my friends.” Mabel reached over a hand and patted her friend’s shoulder with a determined look on her face.

“Really?” Stan asked Candy and leaned over the flower covered head of Mabel. “What else can unicorns do?”

“You don’t really believe in this stuff do you,” Wendy asked as he pushed back some branches. She was taking up the rear of this little posy. “I mean, I stopped believing in unicorns when I was five.”

Stanley leaned his head back to look at her and gave a small frown, “Then why’d you come along if you don’t believe in the unicorns?”

The teen moved closer to hold Stan up from falling over or chocking Mabel.

“Mostly to make sure none of you step in a bear trap and die.”

“I think you need to imaginate more, Miss Wendy,” Stan said and stuck out his tongue at her, “Unicorns are so real just you watch. Me and Candy are gonna lick one and you are gonna be so jealous.”

Wendy chuckled and ruffled his hair, “Alright kid. I am gonna hold you to that.”

“Stop!” Mabel suddenly stopped and held out an arm to halt her party, “I think we are here! Stanley, the journal please.”

She held up a hand for the boy sitting on her shoulders. Carefully Stanley took the journal out of his sweater and handed it over before turning to Wendy for her to pick him up and set him down on his feet. His eyes were wide as he stared at the scenery of the forest. It was his first time really out of the Shack and this was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. A gnome scampered in the bushes when he spotted it and he grinned wide. How Stanford could believe the forest was bad for him to go into was beyond him.

Mabel flipped through the old pages of the first journal and hummed to herself.

“Let's see, the gnome tavern is over there, the fairy nail salon is over there,” She muttered to herself as she scanned he page that described this magical part of the forest, “but it says that to summon the unicorn, one must bellow this ancient chant droned only by the deepest-voiced druids of old.”

Mabel didn’t have to question how they were going to manage that long before Grenda took the book from her and stood close to some large stones. The girl looked down at the book before she began to chant; her already deep voice getting lower.

Wendy looked on unimpressed while holding on to Stan’s hand.

“I bet you ten bucks nothing happens,” she said.

Mabel turned to accept it but Stanley cut her off.

“Make it fifteen and throw in a chocolate bar if something happens and we see a unicorn.”

The red head looked down at the sweater clad boy holding onto his hand before snorting, “You’re on.”

As soon as the words left her mouth the ground began to shake and the large stones began to rise up to create walls. The girls and Stan stared in awe as a large fortress appeared before them where there was once a calm clearing in the dark forest surrounding Gravity Falls. In the middle of these unearthed walls was large doors that swung open slowly as they approached.

They all gasped as they entered to find a scene out of a fair tail. A rived ran through this hidden grove and a rainbow arched over the waters. A small faun played a flute as butterflies flew past and in the middle of it all was a light blue unicorn with a rainbow mane.

“The paintings airbrushed on the sides of vans were true!” Mabel whispered to herself, a wide grin spreading over her face.

The unicorn stood up from where it was lounging and neighed; waving its mane back and forth in the breeze that suddenly appeared.

“Mother of mothers!” Grenda muttered and closed the journal she was still holding.

“Queen of dreams!” Candy whispered as she stared at the scene.

Wendy stared in shock at the creature, “No way.”

A tug on her arm brought her back down to reality and she looked down at the smaller version of her boss. The kid had pushed his sweater sleeve up to reveal his hands again and was making a small grabby motion up to her. With a sigh the teenager reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet to give the kid fifteen dollars.

“I’ll buy you the chocolate when we get back to town.”

Stanley nodded and pulled the money into his sweater pocket as they moved further into the unicorn’s fortress.

“Hark! Visitors to my realm of enchantment!” The unicorn spoke as they slowly approached. When it spoke its mouth didn’t move but its horn lit up.

“Oh my Gosh!” Mabel squealed, “Oh my Gosh! What is your name?”

“I am Celestabellebethabelle, last of my kind,” The unicorn said, “Come in, come in. Just, take off your shoes. I have a whole thing about shoes.”

They group stopped their advancing into the home of Celestabellebethabelle to do as the creature requested. The kids taking off their shoes and leaving them by the door before they walked across the grass towards the unicorn.

“Ah, ah I said everyone,” Celestabellebethabelle said making the group turn back to look at Wendy. The teenager glared at the unicorn and reluctantly took off her mud covered boots.

Mabel stood at the front of the group with Stanley holding onto her sweater sleeve as she began to speak to the unicorn.

“Celestabellebethabelle, we have journeyed far and wide—“

“About an hour,” Grenda interrupted.

“On a mission to protect our family with your magical hair!” Mabel finished and smiled at the unicorn.

None of them paid any mind to Candy. The girl had moved over beside the unicorn and was slowly trying moving closer to Celestabellebethabelle’s neck to try and get at a good distance to lick the animal.

“Very well,” The unicorn nodded and looked over all of them, “To receive a lock of my enchanted hair, step forth, human of pure perfect heart.”

Mabel went to move forward but found a small force keeping her in place. Turning her head confused she found it was Stanley that was holding her back.  His eyes were wide and he was still staring at the unicorn with a look of awe on his freckled face.

In his mind the gears were turning. If he did it, got the hair for Stanford, maybe he would want to be upstairs with more. He was one of the purest people he knew, give or take a few pranks on Sherman and his teachers.

“C-can I…?”

Stan trailed off and looked away. This was Mabel’s quest and he didn’t want to intrude on it or take this away from her. In his head he also was reasoning that a girl would be a little more welcome then a boy to a unicorn; as much as he loved how pretty Celestabellebethabelle was.

Mabel stared at her miniature Grunkle before a small smile spread over her face. Lifting him up his armpits she moved across the grass with him towards a small circle of light that was conveniently in front of the unicorn.

“Presenting: bum buh da bum bum ba bum bum!” She said dramatically and set Stanley down in front of the unicorn, “Stanley!”

“What!” The unicorn reeled back in shock; the smile leaving Mabel’s face fast, “Him? A unicorn can see deep inside one’s heart.”

Celestabellebethabelle pointed at Stan’s chest with their horn and it began to glow in the shape of a heart. The eight-year-old made a small noise and put his hand over the glowing light over his sweater covered chest.

“And he has done wrong!” The unicorn whinnied, “Wrong! So much wrong!”

Stanley stared up helplessly at the creature as it spoke; his small hands clutching the wool and the glowing heart desperately.

“Grunkle Stan has done nothing wrong but love us too much and maybe get too much ick in the Stan-cakes but that is it!” Mabel protested and pulled the boy closer to her side.

“No…no she is right,” Stanley sniffles, “I ain’t good as I could be. I-I tease F-Ford too much over his nerd things and I wasn’t there for him in the future when he got real hurt…I-I’m bad…”

“Your bad deeds make me cry,” Celestabellebethabelle stopped the glowing and lowered their head. Their large eyes glistening with tears. A drop slowly fell to the ground and landed on a flower causing it to hiss and die.

“I-I’m sorry,” Stanley whimpered and turned to hide his face in the front of Mabel’s sweater.

“Come back when you are or find someone that actually is PURE OF HEART!” The unicorn reared their head and shook their multicolored mane while neighing dramatically.

Stanley clung tightly to Mabel as the girl picked him up and let him wrap his legs around her waist as she moved towards the exit. The whole crew glaring at the unicorn as it stopped its dramatic show and stared at them; tears gone from their eyes.

“Exit is that way. Shoes, shoes, take your shoes. This isn't some... some... shoe store.”

Wendy and Grenda gathered up the shoes as they walked out of the hidden realm of the unicorn. Mabel and Stan leading the way back into the magical part of the forest. Candy behind them. Stanley’s face was buried in Mabel’s shoulder as she settled them down to sit on a rock; keeping the boy in her lap.

“Stan, don’t let that unicorn get to you,” Grenda offered her reassurance as she put on her sneakers.

“Yeah,” Wendy said and crouched down so the boy could see her face, “I wouldn’t trust a horse that wears make up.”

Stanley sniffled and peaked at the girls crowding around him, each of them giving a small little smile at him as he slowly showed his face again. The child shook his head and cling to Mabel tighter.

“N-no,” he sighed, “Celestabellebethabelle is right. I ain’t the goodest person…M-Mabel should have gone.”

His sweater sleeve covered hands moved to pull the neck over his face so he could hide amongst the wool.

“I’m sorry I messed this up.”

“No,” Mabel protested and pulled the neck of the sweater down, “No sweater town for you. You got to be the purest person I have ever met. Sure when you are older you are much grumpier but my Stan never would give in to some…some…donkey spittle!”

Candy and Grenda gasped.

“Pardon my hillbilly,” Mabel sent an apologetic look to them before looking at the boy in her lap, “But the point it that Celestabellebethabelle obviously doesn’t know a pure heart when she sees it since I have never seen someone so nice and pure in my life.”

“Yeah,” Wendy chimed in and took one of his hands, “Sure you become a grumpy old codger but right now…you made the whole walk here something fun. You aren’t bad, Stan.”

“No one as cute as you can be bad,” Grenda piped in with Candy nodding beside her.

Stanley’s ears slowly grew red and he ducked his head down to look at the over-sized sweater he was wearing.

“Doesn’t change the fact that I ain’t pure enough to get us the hair Sixer needs. Ain’t good enough for a unicorn to give us what we need.”

Above his head the girls looked at each other. Mabel looked over at Wendy, Wendy at Grenda, Grenda at Candy, and Candy at Mabel. They all seemed to get an idea in their head around the same time. Mabel looked down at her de-aged great uncle in her lap and carefully moved him off so he was sitting beside her.

Stanley looked over at her confused when he was moved but didn’t protest.

“Stan,” Wendy said, “I am going to be honest here. This whole pure of heart thing always seemed like total bunk to me even when I didn’t believe in that hoof bagged punk. So I need you to just trust as here and not leave this spot until we get back.”

The child wiped his eyes and stared at her confused, “Where are you going?”

The teenager smiled, “We are going to try and do this the Wendy way now.”

The child just gave her a confused look as she pushed herself to her feet. The younger girls huddled around her after they walked a distance away and began to plot. Stan watched them silently before burying himself in the comfort of the sweater he was borrowing. It smelled like strawberries and still had a few flakes of glitter falling off of it if he moved it a certain way.

The boy pulled his knees up into the sweater and happily became a little sweater ball. The boy not aware of the girls heading back towards the unicorn’s fortress and entering it once again.

* * *

They didn’t take off their shoes this time as they entered the magical place where Celestabellebethabelle lived. The unicorn still standing next to the waterfall with a bored expression on its face. The creature looked up when the humans in confusion.

“You have returned,” the unicorn observed and shook their mane back and slowly approached them. “And did not take off your shoes.”

“We aren’t here to listen to your dumb shoe rules,” Mabel said and pointed at the unicorn.

“Yeah,” Grenda agreed and crossed her arms.

“We are onto your game,” Wendy said.

“Game?” Celestabellebethabelle said and narrowed their eyes at the girls, “I do not know what you are all talking about. Shouldn’t you be looking for someone truly pure of heart?”

“Now listen here you full of yourself walking horse shi-shtuff,” Wendy growled out, stomping over to face the unicorn.

The girls gasped in shock and the unicorn huffed in an offended tone. The creature reared its head back and stomped its pained hoofs on the green grass.

“Well I never!” Celestabellebethabelle shrieked, “You all are defiantly much worse them him. No pure of heart! Your hearts are black! Black I sa-.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you gotta be kidding me,” a voice said and everyone’s head turned to the creature that spoke. Two new unicorns came out of the brush; one red and one blue.

The blue one’s horn glowed as he spoke, “Yo, C-Beth, are you seriously pulling this "pure of heart" scam again?”

The girl’s eyes widened at the new creatures. This meant it was more than the pure of heart thing was a lie. Celestabellebethabelle had said they were the last of their kind yet here was two unicorns standing right there.

“That is so messed up, man,” the red one huffed.

“What?” Mabel asked cautiously.

“Kid, unicorns can't see into your heart. All our dumb horns can do is glow, point towards the nearest rainbow and play rave music,” the red unicorn explained and his horn began to glow as it played some music.

The blue unicorn nodded his head, “Yeah, the whole "pure of heart" racket is just a line we use to get humans to leave us alone.”

Celestabellebethabelle lowered their head and looked at the two new arrivals. Their horn glowed as they whined for the new arrivals to shut up.

Mabel stared at the unicorns in shock and her hands balled into fists.

“You,” she growled, “You made my Grunkle think he was terrible. That he was the worst person on earth but you are the terrible ones!”

“Okay, fine. So you learned our secret. We're jerks, okay? We have more hair than we know what to do with, and we keep it to ourselves just to tick humans off,” Celestabellebethabelle huffed and moved their head down to glare tauntingly at Mabel, “What are you gonna do about it, huh, huh? What are ya gonna DO?”

Mabel stared at the teasing unicorn and narrowed her eyes. In a fluid motion she pulled her arm back and punched the unicorn right in the snout. Everyone in the space gasped in shock and stared at the small girl. Rainbow colored blood started to run from the nostril of the creature.

“Go Mabel!” Wendy laughed, breaking the silence.

“Show them who is boss!” Candy cheered.

Mabel grinned and grabbed the unicorn on the front of her sweater and tore the patch off of the front of the sweater. With a warrior’s cry she tore the unicorn off her sweater and threw it to the ground.

“Yeah! Join the dark side!” Grenda cheered.

“So,” Celestabellebethabelle ground out and whipped their nose of the blood. “It's a fight you want. Well, then it's a fight you're gonna get!”

A war cry came from both sides as they charged at each other. Mabel pulling the cross bow from her sweater, Wendy picking up a stick, Grenda ready with her fists, and Candy finding a sling shot from somewhere. A battle was about to rage between the humans and the unicorns.

* * *

Stanley shouted in fright as he was suddenly lifted off the ground and held in the air. The boy pulled his head back out of the sweater’s neck hole as he was sat on someone’s shoulders. He looked down to find red hair and a smiling bruised faces of the girls.

“W-what…what happened to…?”

“Ta-da!” Mabel grinned up at him and held out the rainbow colored hair in her hands. “We got it!”

“The hair!?” Stan reached out and took the hair with wide eyes, “You got it!”

“Yes,” Candy confirmed, “Also some unicorn tears, unicorn eyelashes…” The girl looked over at Grenda who blinked dramatically to show of the eyelashes.

The girl in question was also holding a large pile of gold.

“They finally gave us this treasure just to get rid of us!” She said happily.

“You…what did you all do?” Stan asked in awe of them.

“We beat up the unicorns for you dude,” Wendy said and holding onto the boy’s legs.

Stanley stared at all of their faces. Bruises and scratches littered their faces as they smiled up at him. A few rainbows colored drops slowly trailed down Mabel’s cheek as she grinned up at him. Stan felt tears start to appear in the corner of his eyes. He quickly whipped them away on his sweater and smiled down at them.

“Yeah,” Mabel said, “They were just being big old meanies and tricking you. You are pure of heart, Stan.”

She turned to Grenda and took a gold crown from the pile of treasure. Mabel held it up to him and held it up for him to take. Stanley stared at his reflection in the golden crown before looking at her smiling face. A small smile spread on his face as he reached down and grabbed the crown. He placed it on his head and didn’t mind when it slipped slightly and tilted to the side.

“All hail Stan!” Mabel laughed, “Purest of hearts!”

Grenda and Candy cheered and Wendy laughed. Stanley beamed down at them and held up the unicorn hair. Joy spread through him and chased away the bad thoughts. The ones that told him of everything he had done wrong.

“Come on,” Wendy said and started to head towards the forest, “Let’s get this hair and stuff to Dr. Pines.”

“Yeah,” Stan whispered and held on to her head with one hand, “To Sixer.”


End file.
